Barack Obama, as weall knowby now, is quite fond of summoning up the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. That’s why it was such a surprise when the presidential predecessor Obama decided to invoke in his inaugural address was not “Honest Abe” but the fellow who (as lore has it) could not tell a lie about chopping down a cherry tree. But our new president isn’t the only one conjuring the spirits of the American Cincinnatus and the Great Emancipator for elevated purposes:

In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that the script for the video was written by Nick Weiss, the brother of Forward staff writer Anthony Weiss. Nick Weiss also provides the voice of Lincoln.

As Hanukkah nears its end, the good folks at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, N.J., can breathe easily. Their world-record of 541 dreidels spinning simultaneously has withstood a challenge mounted by Sha’arei Am in Santa Monica, Calif.:

UPDATE: There appears to be some uncertainty as to exactly who holds the dreidel world record: Last year students at the University of Maryland spun a prodigious number of dreidels, Sports Illustrated reports, and back in 2003, we reported that “the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center at Indiana University broke the world record — previously held by Maryland — for the number of dreidels spun at once, when more than 500 students and members of the local community came out to spin 713 dreidels for 10 seconds.” It’s all very confusing, but don’t despair. We have crack a crack reporter on the case and will let you know more as soon as we know more.

Yes, Chabad of Malibu can light your menorah. Like will.i.am’s pro-Obama video upon which it is based, the Chabad video features a woman saying “Yes we can” in Hebrew. Unlike the will.i.am video, Chabad doesn’t have Jewish/Danish-American actress Scarlett Johansson — or any other women for that matter — singing along. For which, of course, there’s a ready explanation. That, however, begs the question: Did the folks who made or performed in the Chabad video allow themselves to listen to the original?

Sarah Lefton, a San Francisco-based Jewish innovator, who was responsible for giving the world the Jewish Fashion Conspiracy, which sold schmattes bearing clever semitic slogans, has a cool new conspiracy brewing.

This time, her co-conspirators include those learned in the ways of Torah and those learned in the ways of animation. The result is the G-dcast — a weekly animated presentation of the Torah portion.

It’s off to a strong beginning, with a Bereshit cartoon narrated by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner:

UPDATE: The mysterious, bearded, Yiddish-speaking Orthodox guy has been identified! Bintel Blog reader Ralph Kostant helpfully notes in a comment that the fellow in the video “is Marvin Silbermintz of North Hollywood, California, formerly a writer for Jay Leno at the Tonight Show, and a very funny guy.” Indeed, it turns out that this isn’t Silbermintz’s first appearance on the Bintel Blog. We previously showcased his genius back in February.

Max Blumenthal, scourge of conservative conferences, turns his camera toward Holocaust denier David Irving, who recently swung by New York City for a stop on his American speaking tour. Blumenthal doesn’t have to work too hard to make his subject look ridiculous:

Irving spoke in a room at an Upper East Side church basement, but the church’s pastor told Blumenthal that event organizers were less than above-board. “Someone made a reservation to have a discussion of a book. The name was not David Irving. We knew nothing about it. We thought it would be just something nice for the community,” he explained. “And it turns out that it was David Irving. We were completely deceived. And really we’re outraged, because we do not cater to that kind of bigotry, and I’m really sorry that this happened.”

My favorite Irving quote from the video: “Adolf Hitler was being kept out of the loop and was probably not at all antisemitic by the time the war began.” Or maybe this one, on the origins of World War II: “Hitler wanted a little war, but it got out of hand.”

Blumenthal also scored some hits on professional contrarian (and Blumenthal family foe) Christopher Hitchens over his seemingly odd relationship with Irving (also discussed in passing here).

For another report on the Irving event, see this article from The New York Sun (for which Blumenthal is the main source).

The new issue of Heeb Magazine has a nice interview with Mac-made musical sensation Yael Naim.

From it I learned that the Israeli-born singer, best-known for her brilliant “New Soul,” does a live cover of Britney Spears’s “Toxic.” “I wanted to take something far from what I enjoy and make it mine,” Naim tells Heeb. “Britney Spears was far enough.”

There was nary a review of Adam Sandler’s “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” that didn’t mention the movie’s steady stream of hummus jokes. The irony is that, as the following shocking video reveals, Sandler doesn’t even like hummus. And when he appeared to be eating the mashed-chickpea spread in the film, he was actually eating yogurt!

How deep do the lies go? Next we’re liable learn that there’s no such thing as Fizzy Bubbeleh.

"My son is marrying a woman from Singapore and he refuses to incorporate any Jewish traditions in the wedding — even breaking the glass. Am I being ridiculous to care?"
This week's #Seesaw advice column:

May her memory be a blessing.

Lithuania is accusing Jewish partisans of war crimes. Jonathan Katz asks: Is the country just trying to hide its history of Nazi collaboration?

In a recent interview, Woody Allen spoke out about his controversial relationship with wife Soon-Yi Previn. Madison Margolin asks: who are we to judge them?

If you're an African-American Jew who wants a wearable symbol that screams 'Jewish,' you might run into problems with the Star of David, which was used as a gang symbol. Here's why MaNishtana decided to reclaim it. http://jd.fo/e8O0m

Jewish extremists carried out attacks on Palestinians and gay pride marchers hours apart. J.J. Goldberg explains how the killing of a Palestinian toddler may mark a dramatic shift for the anti-Arab movement — and one that Israel may not be able to easily control.

Jewish federations from coast to coast are coming under intense pressure to denounce the Iran nuclear deal, even though they usually avoid political disputes and the public is split down the middle. So far eight local groups have urged Congress to block the agreement. http://jd.fo/d8N6h

Judy Blume - our childhood hero and saver of marriages!

Liberals were happy to hear President Obama come out swinging in favor of the Iran nuclear deal. But by blasting the neo-conservatives who led us into the Iraq war, did he strike the wrong chord with some Jews?

Vayter / ווײַטער: A biweekly blog presenting original Yiddish articles, fiction, essays, videos and art by young writers and artists.

We will not share your e-mail address or other personal information.

The Forward occasionally sends promotional e-mails to our subscribers on behalf of selected sponsors, whose advertising supports our independent journalism. We hope you will look at their messages and find their offers interesting to you, but if you would like to opt out of receiving them, please uncheck this box.